


Heartbreak

by von_gelmini



Series: Starker Bingo 2019 [9]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst without a happy ending, Character Death, Heavy Angst, M/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 09:58:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20469164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/von_gelmini/pseuds/von_gelmini
Summary: This was written for Starker Bingo 2019.Prompt: HeartbreakAnd that's what it is. Pure heartbreak. No happy ending. Angst through and through. Characters die. But they are together.





	Heartbreak

Tony was on top of the ambulance in his suit. He’d flown over the city to find out which one had Peter’s suit’s tracker in it. He landed on top of the vehicle as it was heading to the Metro-General, the nearest trauma center. As soon as he did, he called the best ER doctor in the city and told her to get her ass there. He also called Stephen Strange. 

“I…” Stephen hesitated. “I can’t do that kind of work any more.” 

“You can damn well supervise it to make sure it’s done right.”

Reluctantly, Stephen agreed and drove as fast as he could to the hospital.

Tony was down and out of his suit before the stretcher came out. When it did, he was right there with it, running along side as they wheeled Peter into the ER. There had been a problem in the ambulance getting Peter out of his suit. As soon as they moved Peter onto the table, Tony accessed Karen, and Peter’s suit retracted, leaving Peter naked except for a flimsy bit of underwear. Lace. The boy would be mortified if he knew someone other than Tony saw that. 

“Anyone who says something is going to regret it,” Tony warned, non-specifically. Whether it was about the suit, the secret identity, or the lace thong didn’t matter, It was about all of it.

“Mister Stark, you have to leave the room.”

“Like hell I do,” Tony said, but he stepped back from the table so the team could begin their work. 

They hooked Peter to machines, checked him over. But they didn’t remove him from the ambulance’s back board, nor did they release the straps holding him there. Peter had fallen from a height from which no one could have survived. 

“He’s an EI,” Tony said. “An enhanced individual. Strength and healing. Other things, but those are the most relevant.”

As they were wheeling in the portable x-ray machine, Stephen showed up and began grilling the team.

“What happened?”

“The patient…”

“Peter Parker,” Tony supplied.

“Fell from over a hundred feet. Unresponsive. Probable fractures of the spine and skull. Blood loss including bleeding from the back of the head, nose, ears, legs. BP 40/20. Pulse thready and weak.”

Stephen pushed the doctor out of the way and began his own examination. As he was doing so the ER expert arrived. She and Stephen already knew each other and slipped into an easy working relationship tossing rapid, clipped clinical words that Tony didn’t understand.

“Is he going to be okay?” Tony asked frantically.

“Too soon to tell.” Stephen said. “Tony, you really need to get out of here.”

“No.” Tony said weakly. “I can’t leave him.” He paused. He and Peter had been keeping their relationship secret. Only May and Happy knew. “Peter is my lover. I can’t leave. He’s everything, Stephen. You have to save him.”

“We’re doing everything we can,” the hospital’s ER doctor said. “But there’s nothing you can do for him here. Please. So the team can concentrate on Peter and not have to worry about you as well. Let’s go outside.” The doctor put his hand on Tony’s shoulder and Tony followed his lead out of the exam room.

The ambulance team as well as the police were there. Tony might not be able to help Peter in the room, but he could here.

“Not a word, you hear? No talking to the press. No talking about who is beneath the suit. No talking about anything to do with Peter or I will own your ass.”

“Yes sir,” one of the EMTs said.

“Now… what the hell happened?” Tony asked.

A policeman began speaking. “Spider-man was flying down the street chasing a criminal gang. There were several gunshots, apparently not at him, because word had gotten out that his suit was bullet proof, but at where the web attached to a building. The web was cut and Spider-man fell onto the street, onto a car. The car’s roof was crushed in. We expected to find him dead, but he was still alive and conscious for a few moments.”

“Did he say anything?”

“Your name, sir. Nothing more before he lost consciousness.”

“The gang?”

“Escaped in the crowd.”

“Find out about them. Get me the information.” Tony turned away from them. “FRIDAY, get May Parker on the phone. You call Avengers HQ and tell them what happened.”

“May Parker on the line.”

“May? Peter’s been injured.”

“What!? How? Is it serious? Where is he?”

“Metro-General. You should be here. Is Happy there with you?”

“Yes.”

“Have him drive you here. Fast.”

“Yes. Yes.”

Tony cut the call. He looked in through the small window to the exam room. There were more doctors, more machines. From what Tony could see, Peter was still unconscious and laying absolutely still. Stephen was shouting orders and then Tony had to move because they were wheeling Peter out.

“They’re taking him up to surgery. Floor four,” a nurse said in Tony’s direction as she ran along with the team.

Tony headed for the elevators. “FRIDAY, send Happy the update so he knows where to bring May. And find out anything you can about this gang Peter was chasing.”

“Yes boss.”

Up in the surgical waiting room, there was nothing for Tony to do but pace. Rhodey got there after about an hour, still in his War Machine suit that he’d used to fly there.

“Sorry I’m so late, Tones. I was in the middle of a mission. As soon as I heard, I mopped up what I could to stabilize the situation and came here.”

Tony’s voice was shaking. “Thanks Rhodey. It’s… it’s bad. Peter’s hurt bad. Strange is in there with him.” Tony stood suddenly. “I only told him to supervise. I need to tell him to use whatever magic it takes,” he said anxiously, heading for the door to the surgical suites. A nurse stopped him. “Then you go tell Strange immediately. Tell him to use whatever power it takes.”

“I’m sure they’re doing everything possible, sir,” the nurse said solicitously. 

“No. You don’t understand. Whatever _ power _ . Whatever _ magic _. Tell him that. I don’t care if it doesn’t make sense to you, it’ll make sense to him.”

The nurse seemed hesitant.

“Do it or I’m going back there to tell him myself whether you like it or not.

“Yes sir,” the nurse answered and headed for the suite Peter was in.

Rhodey was in the back hall with him, by his side. “C’mon Tony,” he said, turning the man to the door. “Nothing we can do back here. We need to wait.”

Reluctantly, Tony let himself be led to the waiting room.

He and Rhodey sat there for hours. Nat was the next one to get there. The other Avengers trickled in slowly as more hours passed. After sixteen hours, a nurse came out.

“He’s still alive,” she said to Tony. “They’re working to assist his healing abilities. Doctor Strange is using some abilities of his own. But this is going to take a long time. The doctors assisting Doctor Strange are organizing shifts.”

Tony couldn’t speak. Rhodey asked, “The prognosis?”

“Impossible to say at this point. We have some experience with EIs, but Mister Parker’s situation is an unusual case. But everything that can be done is being done.”

More hours passed. A day passed. Updates kept coming, but Peter was still in surgery after two days. Strange was still back there using either will or magic to keep himself alert. Despite how long it was, Tony refused to leave. He was using stubbornness and coffee. By the third day, Tony was still awake but faltering. Pacing, worried, alternating between frantic and despondent. By the end of the third day, Tony had fallen into a fitful bout of napping in a chair. The Avengers were taking shifts to keep watch over him. 

A fourth day began and Peter was still in surgery. After ninety two hours, Stephen came out of the doors. Tony was up like a shot.

Strange shook his head. “He’s alive,” he said quickly to allay Tony’s fears. “But the damage to his brain is irreparable. It’s inhibiting his healing abilities. He’s breathing on his own. There’s still brain activity. The surgery has stabilized him. But Peter’s in a vegetative state. At this point, dependant on his healing factor returning, it’s likely to be permanent.”

The breath was knocked out of Tony. “Magic. Did you use magic?” he gasped out. 

“Tony, I did everything possible. It’s a miracle he was able to be stabilized. There’s damage to the brain stem. I directed what healing ability he had left to repairing that. That’s what allowed him to have a stable life function. Then I released it to the rest of his body.”

“Nanites. Is there anything they could do.”

“We tried the ones in his suit.”

“How? You don’t know how they function.”

“Karen, your AI in the suit. She controlled them. They helped with a few of the internal injuries. That’s as far as they could go. It stabilized some of the soft tissue, blood, skin, nothing more. Orthopedists wired the bones that were uncrushed enough to do so. Keeping the breaks close together to assist the healing ability if and when it’s able to get to that.”

“So the healing is still working. He could come back.”

Strange sighed. “The healing is keeping him alive. It’s fighting to keep his autonomic functions working, to keep the spinal cord intact within the crushed vertebrae. It’s kept so busy working on just keeping Peter alive that there isn’t anything left for higher function. Recovery is… unlikely. I’m sorry, Tony. There’s nothing more we can do.” 

May began crying. “Can I see him?”

“Soon. He’s being prepped to be moved into an intensive care suite.”

“Whatever it takes. I’ll buy the hospital a new goddamn wing, but Peter had better get the best care this hospital has. Best any hospital has.”

“Everyone understand how important Peter is to you. To all of you,” Strange said.

“He’s… We’re together. Have been for almost a year. I was going to propose on… our anniversary.” Tony’s voice cracked and broke.

May smiled wanly. “He was expecting you to. He told me you were awful at hiding things. He found the ring. He absolutely gushed about how beautiful it was and what a romantic you are. How it was red and gold on one side of the diamonds, red and blue on the other. The colors of your suits.” 

Tony chuckled sadly. “He liked it? I was worried he’d think it was too garish.” 

“He thought it was perfect,” May said.

“We better head upstairs,” Tony said. “I don’t think they’ll let anyone but May and I in. Thank you for being here,” he said to Rhodey, Nat, Sam, Bucky, and Wanda.

Vision passed through the door. He whispered something to Doctor Strange before turning to Tony and May. “I’m sorry Tony, May. The mind stone can detect no higher brain functions.”

“Nothing, nothing at all?” Tony asked.

“Nothing that isn’t devoted to maintaining life,” Vision answered.

Tony and May were in the intensive care room when they brought Peter in and transferred him to the bed. They hooked up all the monitors. Since he was stable and breathing on his own, they didn’t have to put him on a breathing machine. When they left, it just looked like Peter was sleeping. There weren’t any bandages, since the nanites healed all the superficial cuts and wounds. There wasn’t even a bruise on him. 

Tony typed a message on his phone then pulled up a chair on the left side of Peter. May took up on the other side. They each held one of Peter’s hands. Tony kissed his.

Tony stood and leaned over Peter, whispering in his ear. “I love you, Petey. Please come back.” 

An hour later, a messenger arrived with a small package. The message on Tony’s phone had been to FRIDAY to arrange it. Tony actually allowed the messenger to hand it to him. He opened it and put the ring on Peter’s finger.

“This is for you, baby. I don’t care that you ruined my perfect plan for asking you to marry me. Just come back and it won’t matter how we do it. We can go to City Hall or we can have the biggest bash of the century.” Tears were falling silently from Tony’s eyes. “Just please come back to me.”

Days passed into months passed into enough time for that new wing to be built. In it was the most luxurious, well equipped suite to care for Peter. Private nurses, physical therapists, doctors, anything and everything Peter needed to keep his body functioning and in shape for when he woke up. Tony never referred to it as ‘if’ he woke up, it was always ‘when’. The suite had everything Tony needed to move in as well.

Iron Man suited up once more when the gang was found. Tony didn’t argue, didn’t give them a chance to be arrested and go through the justice system. He cold bloodedly killed each and every member, no matter how peripheral. He flew back to the tower, put the nanite device in its proper place next to Mark I through Mark XLIX in his workshop and returned to the hospital.

Two years later, it was still ‘when’ to Tony. Five years later too. He never left Peter’s side. Iron Man was permanently retired. Stark Industries would have to hire new technicians and researchers to keep it going. Tony’s output of new inventions decreased. He did take over more rooms in the wing so that he could move a small workshop in. He took out a few walls so he was always within sight of Peter. 

Peter still had broken bones in his back. His healing ability was still devoted to keeping his neurological system functioning despite that. During the second year, the orthopedists had taken Peter back to surgery to attach an external support system for Peter’s spine. He could be moved easier to prevent bedsores and for the physical therapists to keep stimulating Peter’s musculature. 

Tony read that coma patients responded to talking so he talked constantly to Peter. Even though he wasn’t a coma patient, that’s how Tony insisted on seeing him. He described what work he was doing. What discoveries he made. Spent hours at his side telling him about everything the remaining Avengers were doing. He read him books. Whatever the new Star Wars novelization was. Read and described each issue of Peter’s favorite comics. All the popular science books that came out. Tony even got the textbooks that Peter would’ve had for his future years at college.

Visitors were encouraged to talk and tell Peter what they were up to in their lives. Though the visitors decreased as the years went on. Even May only came once a week. Everyone thought of Peter as being brain dead. Tony insisted otherwise as there were still brain waves showing on the monitor. The brain stem was still active, keeping Peter breathing, keeping his heart beating, his blood flowing, his body maturing and growing. Peter wasn’t brain dead. There would be no plug pulling, no euthanasia. May assigned Tony next-of-kin rights.

Pepper kept the company running and, as the years passed, Tony increased his workload just to be able to keep paying for Peter’s care. The entire top floor of the hospital wing he bought was taken over for his use. 

After eight years, there was a bit of good news. The orthopedist said the x-rays showed that the long bones in Peter’s legs were beginning to knit together. Whether it was Peter’s healing ability or the nanites that Tony kept working on and infusing into Peter’s blood, he couldn’t say. Strange said there was no change though to the neurological function from the day he came out of surgery. 

That didn’t keep Tony from being encouraged. For awhile after, he increased his attention to Peter. More gentle massages, more direct talking. Kisses and hand holding. Ever present reminders of Tony’s love for him. All his favorite flowers. A scent diffuser to keep the room from having hospital smell and to give him reminders. Tony’s cologne, Peter’s favorite foods, the smell of a fresh day walking in the park. Tony hired perfumers to make the most memory encouraging scents.

In ten years, Peter’s kidneys began to fail. Mysteriously, a perfect match transplant became available despite the fact that someone in a persistent vegetative state would never qualify for one. The appropriate doctors were paid a ridiculous sum to perform the surgery. Tony still spoke of ‘when’ and not ‘if’. And he still lived on the top floor of the Metro-General wing he bought. When rumors of people complaining about that began, another new wing was provided. The complainers found themselves out of a job because the upper management of the hospital was not going to do anything to offend their golden goose. Tony worked a bit harder, a bit longer, to be able to pay for everything. He hired a chef, a personal assistant, a personal trainer, and a lab assistant to help keep him going. He did everything he could to keep himself healthy and in good shape because someone had to be there for the long term to take care of Peter. And that had to be him. Everyone else had given up.

Twenty years and Tony was still talking to Peter, still taking care of him. The long bones in his body had healed themselves. Tony worked tirelessly to improve the nanites. He called Bruce in to work with him. He called Doctor Cho in to work with him. He bothered Doctor Strange almost weekly to see if there was anything else he could do, in any regard. He even asked if it would help for him to become a magician and devote his learning to healing Peter. Strange explained that it didn’t work like that. If there was nothing he could do, then there was nothing Tony could do. The nanites improvement helped with healing some of the internal damage. But they had done all that they could do, no matter how much Tony worked to improve them.

At twenty five years, a bed had to be moved in next to Peter’s while Tony recovered from a heart attack and repair to his heart. The damage from Afghanistan weakened his heart muscles. Tony funded research into improving the life expectancy of heart transplant patients so that when he would need one, the skill would be there to keep him going. He was seventy eight and Peter was only forty two. With money, the best doctors, and sheer power of will, Tony was determined to break one hundred years. At least. Someone had to be there to take care of Peter.

Tony’s devotion never waned. His dedication of resources to Peter’s care never stopped. Not even when Strange, the Ancient One, told him that Peter’s brain functions were decreasing. Not even when, after forty years, they put Peter on a breathing machine. 

His work output had dwindled to next to nothing. Stark Industries was running on the work of younger people. Tony had taken the company back to being privately owned years ago and he owned sixty percent of it. No matter how much his new CEO and managers complained about the loss of income, a division of the company was entirely devoted to Peter and Tony’s health.

Forty eight years after Peter’s fall, he was declared officially brain dead. Tony fought it for another month. But at one hundred and one, he cried openly as the machines were turned off. Tony repaired it and had Peter buried in his suit. With a pretty lace thong underneath it. Even though no one remembered Spider-man. Peter’s funeral was attended by one person. The others who had been in his life were dead or had long since moved on and forgotten him. 

Tony continued to live in the upper floor of his hospital wing. However he refused all medical care and had a DNR put on his file. There was nothing left for him but to wait for his body to give out. And to finally mourn the loss of his love.

Tony was buried in his suit. Even though no one remembered Iron Man. He had arranged, paid handsomely for, and bribed all the people he needed to, for the unusual burial arrangements. Peter’s coffin was opened and Tony placed within it. The person he hired to handle the arrangements had the code to open both suits so that nothing separated them. Tony’s suit was powered down and FRIDAY was sent back to the servers at Stark Industries to carry on his work.

Peter Parker and Tony Stark, Spider-Man and Iron Man, would have eternity together, as it should be.

**Author's Note:**

> My Starker blog on tumblr is [starker-stories](https://starker-stories.tumblr.com/).  
Come on by and visit.


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